HPD LLC Selected to Supply Caustic Soda Evaporators to Gulf Coast Plants

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--HPD LLC (Plainfield, Illinois), part of the Veolia Enivironnement Group (NYSE:VE) (Paris, France), will provide design-build services for the Phase II expansion of a new vinyl complex completed earlier this year by Shintech Louisiana LLC (Addis, Louisiana) in Plaquemine, Louisiana. HPD will provide construction, engineering, installation, commissioning and start-up for a salt crystallization unit and caustic soda evaporation system for the expansion, which is tentatively planned to be complete by the end of 2010. The evaporation system will be able to produce approximately 820,000 standard tons per year of sodium chloride. HPD constructed a similar system at the Shintech Louisiana PVC plant located in Addis, approximately seven miles away.

HPD has recently been selected to provide The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) (Midland, Michigan) with a new unit using membrane-cell technology to produce an unspecified amount of chlorine and caustic soda at its Freeport, Texas, site. HPD will be supplying engineering as well as commissioning and start-up of for the new project, which will include two 215,000 pound-per-year caustic evaporation systems. Construction is expected to begin during the first quarter of 2009. This project is part of a major unit addition previously announced by Dow for the Freeport plant site.

Both Shintech and Dow have performed strongly through the third quarter of this year despite financial losses caused by Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. These projects reinforce their desire to continue investing in their most profitable business units. For related news, see October 24, 2008, news article - Price Increases Give Significant Boost to Dow Chemical's Quarterly Earnings.

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